COLLEGE PARK, MD - This season, Duke has shown consistently that it can win by whatever means possible under any circumstances.
At Tennessee, it showed it could win with Abby Waner stroking three pointers from what might as well have been Durham.
When Maryland came to Cameron Indoor Stadium, the Terrapins showed they could win with Harding penetrating at will.
But things got more complicated in the second half at College Park-or, at least, could have, if it weren't for the decisions made by Duke head coach Gail Goestenkors.
In that period, the Blue Devils faced what seemed to be a very daunting task, one that possibly could have ended their unbeaten season.
Alison Bales picked up two untimely fouls-her third at the 17:50 mark and fourth at 4:51-and easily could have been benched at either point.
But in both cases, Goestenkors surprised everyone in the building-except her own players-and left Bales in the game.
And Goestenkors' decision to keep her 6-foot-7 center in the game proved to be an incredibly smart one, with Duke maintaining a steady double-digit lead thanks to Bales' presence in the paint both on the offensive end and in grabbing crucial rebounds.
"I almost always leave my players in if they pick up a quick third [foul] in the second half," Goestenkors said. "I'm willing to leave them in and see what happens and let them stay in their rhythm or get their rhythm."
When Bales drew her third foul early in the second, Duke was ahead by eight. The time seemed right for Maryland to make a game-changing rally, and after Carrem Gay also picked up her third and fourth fouls, such a rally seemed imminent.
Because the Terrapins adjusted to Lindsey Harding by double teaming her off screens in the second period, Bales needed to find her rhythm-and she did just that.
Bales went to work, and over the next 12 minutes scored nine of her 12 second-half points-after failing to score a single point in the first-and steadily helped keep Duke's lead at a comfortable level.
"Obviously, at 6-foot-7, she is extremely talented," Maryland head coach Brenda Frese said. "Offensively, when she gets that drop step, how are you going to guard her?"
After Bales picked up her fourth foul, though, the crowd began chanting, "Defense," and stomped their feet, perhaps in the anticipation that their team's job on offense would now be easier with Bales out of the game.
Goestenkors knew she could trust Bales to do her job, however, and kept her center in the game.
Maryland managed just nine points the rest of the way, six of which came in the final minute after the outcome had effectively been decided.
With one regular season game left at home, followed by the ACC and NCAA Tournaments, traps certainly lie in place for Duke to stumble upon-such as foul trouble in the post encountered Sunday.
With shrewd decision making by the head coach, however, it appears that Duke is ready to weather whatever challenges it may face en route to reaching its goal of a national title.
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